ELSEWHERE

There is another sad cry from the People's Republic of Berkeley here. Leftist "linguist" George Lakoff explains recent Republican triumphs at the polls as a result of the way conservative think-tanks have "dominated" public discussion of political issues. I am sure that some conservative think-tankers might be momentarily inclined to preen their feathers at such a generous compliment but what a laugh the whole claim is nonetheless. The Left have almost total control of America's universities and colleges! Compared to that vast network of influence, the conservative think-tanks are the merest fleabite! That the Left are declining at the polls simply because they talk so much nonsense is the one thing that the desperate Prof. Lakoff will do anything to avoid admitting. Thanks to Bernhardt Varenius of Anti-Socialist Tendencies for the link.

When the American Chinook was shot down, nearby Iraqi villagers danced around celebrating. I would have mown the bastards down to teach all Iraqis that hostility to the West and harbouring terrorists is not wise. Arabs think kindness and decency in such circumstances is weakness. It's wasted on them. It just makes them behave worse. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, GWB said that he held responsible all those who sheltered and supported the terrorists. He needs to get serious about that doctrine.

It's sad to hear of anyone being killed by a bear or anything else but A Greenie fruitcake pays the price for his unrealism and his refusal to listen to others. The system did its best to protect him but no system can protect you from your own stupidity.

Sanity won: The Senate rejected an attempt to limit greenhouse-gas emissions yesterday in the first vote Congress has ever taken on major climate-change legislation.

Vaccine not guilty: "There is now unequivocal evidence that MMR is not a risk factor for autism - this statement is not spin or medical conspiracy, but reflects an unprecedented volume of medical study on a worldwide basis.' So says Dr Simon Murch, who, along with Dr Andrew Wakefield, was one of the authors of a 1998 study which claimed a connection between bowel problems and autism. See also here

One of my readers has recommended the book The Children's Story by James Clavell as a good lesson in how destructive Leftist schoolteachers can be to the minds of children.

I have just uploaded two short academic articles that will not be of much general interest. The first (here or here) is one of my three tentative forays into the murky world of feminist research and the second (here or here) is yet another demonstration that a questionnaire widely used by psychologists (the Shostrom "Personal Orientation Inventory") is essentially a heap of garbage. It is about as useful as your horoscope.

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